"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5

Points to Ponder ...

"My children may bicker, and I may—almost certainly will—complain. But the bickering and the griping are chaff, and what’s left when the winds of time carry them away are the golden kernels I want to savor..."
--Melissa Wiley

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November 29, 2008

7 Quick Takes Friday: Better Late Than ... y'know.

...1...

Simple Questions Can Throw Ya. I never know what to say when someone asks, "How many kids do you have?" If I say "5," am I treading on my stepdaughters' toes, by implying to an aquaintance that they are my daughters? If I say "3," am I ignoring them, or somehow relegating them to 2nd class status? If I say, "My husband has two older daughters and we have three children together," isn't that giving more information than the asker is entitiled to receive -- and more than they wanted to know, anyway? And do I really want to emphasize divisions among the children, when we've been all about "We're a family" (none of this "half" stuff) all along? You wouldn't think an innocent question like that could keep a person awake at night, but, well, that was before you got inside my head!!

...2...

Gas Watch. This morning: $2.35/gallon. A mere $0.05 cents less than last Friday, so perhaps the freefall is nearing an end. (!) We still have the highest gas prices in the Continental U.S., and -- on top of that -- our area in particular sports the highest prices in the state. But I still heart NY.

Especially when over on the Reservation, you can get it for this ...

...3...

Hot Cocoa Mornings. Hot Cocoa is actually a very simple thing to make, but every time I do, two thoughts go through my head: (1) The fact that you can mix together sugar, water and cocoa all at once and not end up with lumps of dry powder in the finished cocoa always seems miraculous to me (I have a similar thought everytime I make a cream sauce or gravy from a roux -- really? Add the liquids all at once?); and (2) Why does this recipe call for me to use all four measuring cups, anyway? (1/4 c cocoa, 1/3 c water, 1/2 c sugar, 4 c milk) (there's also a dash of salt and 3/4 t of vanilla, too, if you're interested. You boil the syrup made from the 1st 3 ingredients plus salt, for 2 minutes; then add the milk and heat through. Vanilla last.) This is probably only an issue for me because I can never seem to find a 1/4 c measure, even with 3 measuring cup sets.

...4...

Pie School Update: Don't worry, Ma, I won't be challenging you to a "Throwdown."

A friend told me her secret to good, no-fail pie crusts was to use "Mrs. Filbert's" margerine instead of shortening. "You could knead it like bread dough," she promised, "and it'll still come out flaky."

I should've listened to my mother. The fact that after all these years I'm still not quite doing so, is, of course, telling.

Anyway, the piecrusts I made with margerine on Thursday were ... OK. And there was absolutely no comparison whatsoever to the flavor my mother is able to produce using good ol' Crisco -- even with my piles of sand, I get closer to the flavor I'm after than this.

Guess this'll be a resolution to carry over to next year!! (I'm not ready to give up yet!!!)

...5...

Little Things That Make Me Cry. The other day, The Chief and I were walking through the mall with 4 of our kids (hey, that worked) and we came upon the Santa Claus photo-op setup. "Ooh, look! Who's that? Hi, Santa!" we said to the excited littlest ones. No one was visiting Santa at that time, and he waved at us cheerily. I'm sure it was obvious we had no intention of stopping, but Santa jumped up out of his chair, grabbed three coloring books, and, running out of his little kiosk, handed them to the excited little kids with a merry "Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!"

It just seemed like such a sweet and unnecessary gesture, and I got all choked-up. I'm thinking we just met up with the real Santa! (He had a real beard, and it was right outside of Macy's. You be the judge.)

...6...

Calling Ace of Cakes. In the comments to my last 7 Quick Takes post, my sister asked me to come up with a few ideas for her next anniversary:

For our next wedding Anniversary,
you'll have to help me put a theme together with a cake and everything.
We met in . . .A BAR!!! Think about it. We've got 'til October!

(Yes, she is kidding, people! About the cake, anyway). Here's what I came up with so far, in my email response to her -- other suggestions welcome!

Hmmmm....bar theme. Would that be a typical college bar
environment, or more, perhaps, your basic upholstered sewer?
The latter would provide special challenges in the cake and cuisine
department, but I'm sure it could be done.) (How about cupcake tables
with little chairs all around -- maybe a few people with their heads
sunk in the frosting, and little figures of you and Seamus dancing
on the tables??? Or a long, rectangular bar-cake, with a bunch of
pasty-faced old guys sitting at it in the dark, staring at the door as
it opens, hoping for something exciting to happen...until they see it's
only you. Man, I'm good. The stale beer smell may be a
little tough to replicate in the icing, however.

(And yes, I'm kidding, too!) :)

...7...

So, Where Did You Meet? All this talk about first meetings has me thinking about one of my favorite "first meeting" stories of all time: How my parents met! My dad was working his way through law school (or, maybe just working -- he's had pretty much every job imaginable, I think), on a construction crew building a new Catholic high school (named Immaculata). He fell off a second story scaffolding, breaking a rib or two and smashing the bones in one heel. He was rushed off to a hospital ... named Our Lady of Victory. There he was tended to by a sweet, pretty young nurse ... named Marie. They were married just a couple years later. (My dad says he's certain that Our Lady pushed him off that scaffolding!!) :) 53+ years, 9 kids and 45 (give or take; I lost count) grandkids later, they're still going strong!

We met....we don't know where we met....so what cake for that, Eileenie?! I think it's just a sign that you should be nice to everyone because you never know if the person you are talking to might be a very important person in your life, your future spouse, and the father of your beautiful children! I was at our rectory the other day requesting Mass cards, and May 21st was the "next available" date, so I (took out another $10 and) reserved a Mass for us on our 21st Anniversary!! (And Treece, you ND people are always in bars...too bad you didn't go to a good Catholic, JESUIT college!) Man! I missed seeing you all at Thanksgiving

Welcome to My Blog!

We are a Catholic homeschooling family of 7, a blend of step children, bio children and adoptees, making our way to heaven the best way we know how! Here's a record of our journey, with thoughts on anything we care about--mostly homeschooling, faith and finding a way to make it all work for each of us. Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy your visit!